Fall Down the Rabbit Hole With Me
by thisisbrittana
Summary: One-Shot: Amy plans a little surprise for Karma during a trip to NYC over winter break.


**A/N: Takes place after Amy and Karma start fake-dating. However, in this universe, Liam does not exist. As it should be. Enjoy!**

I can't believe we're actually here. I had begged my mom so many times to go to New York City. Ever since I was little I wanted to get out of Texas and see someplace that wasn't farm pastures and honky-tonks. Someplace where I could experience some culture and feel like I fit in. She always had made excuses, saying she couldn't get time off from work or her hair couldn't take the weather in the northeast. But since Bruce had to attend a convention in New York while we're on winter break from school, she finally caved and decided we could make the trip with him. And it only took a whole day of begging to get my mom to let Karma come along with me. The day after Christmas we hopped on a plane and headed for Manhattan.

So here we are, at the W in Times Square. Bruce's company paid to put him up in a huge suite, meaning Karma and I get our own king size bed. My mom began protesting this, saying if I were "dating" a boy, she wouldn't allow it. Thank goodness for Bruce, who calmed her down and explained how there was no door to that room anyways.

"Yea, Mom. Gross, we're not going to do anything while you guys are fifteen feet away."

"Fine, but if I hear a peep you are swapping with Lauren."

Unfortunately for my evil step sister Lauren, she has to sleep on the fold-out couch in the living room. It's nearly midnight already and we're all getting ready for bed since it was a late flight. Karma is lying next to me on the bed reading the same book she reads once a year, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_.

"How can you still enjoy that book after the millionth time?" I ask, sitting up in bed next to her.

"I don't know," she shrugs, putting her bookmark inside. "It reminds me of when I was little. It makes me happy. I always wanted to find a white rabbit in my backyard and chase it, hoping I could find wonderland. It's dumb," Karma laughs.

"It's not," I reply, shifting onto my side next to her. "It's adorable."

Karma throws the book onto the side table next to the bed and shuts off the light.

"If by adorable you mean certifiably insane," she replies. "I literally thought I could fall down a hole into another universe," Karma settles herself under the covers.

"No," I shake my head. "It's…hopeful. Everyone should have a little something crazy to hope for." I want to lose the distance between us. In the dark of the hotel room and the faint glow of the city lights shining between the curtains, I can see Karma's slight smile.

"Do you really mean that?"

"Of course," I nod, assuring her.

The past few months have been confusing, to say the least. Karma is my best friend. She has been since we could barely talk, but something has changed. Now when I look at her, I'm not seeing my friend. I'm seeing lips that I want to taste and eyes I want to stare into for days. I don't know how this happened. Maybe it means I'm a lesbian…or bisexual…or I don't know. Ever since we kissed at homecoming, it's this feeling I can't shake, and I need to figure out if she feels the same.

"You're the best," Karma says, and I am shaken out of my thoughts when she brushes the hair back from my face. "So what time do you want to wake up?" she grabs her phone. "I'm so glad your parents let us have the whole day to ourselves tomorrow."

"Ummm, how about 9:30? I'm pretty tired and could use a good night's sleep."

"Sounds good," Karma sets her alarm and plugs her phone into the charger. She shifts back around to face me on her side. "Good night, Amy," she says, closing her eyes.

"Night, Karma," I say. Little does she know I plan on waking up much earlier than her to prepare a little surprise. I lie in bed, watching her chest rise up and down and listen to her soft breathing until we both fall asleep.

Having set my alarm on vibrate for 7 am, and hoping to god it doesn't wake up Karma, I feel it go off against my pillow and I quickly silence it. I look over next to me at the girl resting peacefully. Her hair is strewn across her pillow and I can see her cute face peeking from under it. God, what I would give to cuddle up next to her right now. She's so soft, and she smells so good. Ugh. I need to get out of bed before I do something stupid. I have a lot to get done in two hours. I carefully slip out of bed and open up my laptop. I grab my phone, my bag, a couple pieces of paper, and a pen, and start planning my surprise.

One hour later…

The adrenaline still running through my veins, making me wonder if this whole thing is a good idea or not. I chew on my fingernails, too nervous to think. I decide to pick up some breakfast for Karma and myself. Luckily the buffet is open and I fix some plates of eggs and fruit and two cups of coffee, and make my way back upstairs. I slip the key card into the lock, hoping not to drop the Styrofoam boxes in my hand.

I wave to my mom and Bruce, who are watching the morning news with Lauren as I enter.

"None for us?" Lauren barks.

"Couldn't carry it all, sorry," I shrug. She can get her own bird food or whatever she eats in the morning.

I walk into the other room to see Karma still fast asleep in bed. I set her coffee cup on her bedside table and shrug off my coat to throw against the chair by the window. I walk around to my side of the bed and carefully sit down with my food, trying not to wake her. I sip the coffee slowly while watching Karma's eyes flutter behind her lids, as if she's dreaming something wonderful. She starts to stir, and I hear her sniffing.

"Coffeeee," she says in her raspy, morning voice. "Mmmm," she stays lying still in bed.

"I got you some," I tell her.

She reaches an arm out from under the covers towards me. "Coffeeee."

"Yours is over there," I laugh.

"Yours is closer," she opens her eyes and leans over me to steal a sip from mine. Her face is so close to mine, teasing me with her lips inches away. I can smell her hair and intoxicating is an understatement. "Mm, so yummy," she says.

"I know," I reply, not talking about the coffee.

"Good morning," Karma says. "Thanks for the coffee. Have you been up long?" she sits up and he sheets fall down, revealing her tiny tank top. I have to force myself to look up and not at her cleavage.

"Oh, just a little while."

Karma rubs at her eyes and combs her fingers through her hair. She looks so amazing, even first thing after waking up.

"So what are we going to do with the whole day to ourselves, "girlfriend"?

I wish she didn't say "girlfriend" like that. I wish she said it because it was true.

"Well, actually I have something planned."

"Really? What is it?" Karma asks.

"It's a surprise," I say nervously.

"Ooh a surprise!" Karma shouts. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I'm not gonna tell you," I playfully slap her shoulder. "Just get dressed and we'll go."

Karma rolls out of bed and walks across the room, her tank top hitched up over her hips. I try not stare at her stomach and focus on drinking the coffee to keep me awake.

"You look really tired," she tells me as she takes clothes from her suitcase into the bathroom. "When did you wake up?"

"Umm, not that long ago. And heyyy," I say, realizing I must not look great. "Do I really look that bad?"

"No!" Karma shouts. "I just mean you look sleepy. You know I always think you're beautiful, Amy."

I can feel the blood rush to my face at those words. Does she really mean it? Or is she just saying it to be nice?

"Thanks," I reply embarrassed. "But you are more," I spit out. I panic, waiting for a reply.

"Aw," she says, popping her out from behind the bathroom door. "But not possible. Have you seen you?" she laughs. "So, is it really cold outside?"

"Yea, it was freaking freezing. I don't know how people live here year round. You better wear your knit hat."

I finish my eggs while Karma finishes getting dressed, and then we finally head out on the surprise adventure after she wolfs down her breakfast, too excited to waste another minute in the hotel.

I hail us a cab and we rush inside to beat the cold, windy day.

"Plug your ears," I say to her.

"Why?" she gives me a quizzical look.

"Because it's a _surprise_," I emphasize and lean towards the driver to whisper the destination. "Did you bring your phone?" I ask Karma.

"Duh," she whips it out from her pocket. "I even made sure I had enough memory to take a million pictures."

"Good, you might need to use it later," I say as the cab pulls away from the curb and heads north.

Karma shivers next to me so I move a little closer. "Are you cold?"

"Yea," she nods.

"Here," I loop my arm underneath hers and lean into her. I grab her left hand between mine and try to warm it up. I glance up at her quickly and she stares back at me. There's a glint in her eyes for a split second, as if she felt something. But it's gone in a flash.

"You're so hot," she blurts out. "I mean- like – you're really warm," Karma stumbles over her words.

Is she nervous? I've never seen her like this before.

"Oh, look," Karma says, changing the subject. "That's a….building," she says pointing out the window.

Oh my god, she _is_ nervous. We've kissed each other a bunch of times in front of the whole school, and holding hands just now made her more nervous than anything.

"Yea, that's a skyscraper alright," I reply. "Everything okay?" I ask her.

"Yea, totally," she nods overenthusiastically. She takes out her phone and starts taking pictures of the city as we pass it by. A few minutes later, we reach out destination. I quickly pay the driver and get out to hold the door open for Karma.

"Is this Central Park?" she asks excitedly.

"Yea," I smile. "I know you always loved when TV shows had scenes filmed here, so I thought we'd come check it out ourselves."

Karma rushes up to me and hugs me. She squeezes her arms tight around my waist, and I can't help but let my head rest against hers. I want to stand like this forever, but before I know it, she's let go and starts walking towards the park.

"Wait," I say, reaching for a piece of paper inside my coat pocket. "There's something else."

"What?" she says, looking so cute with her knit hat and scarf.

"I made a little scavenger hunt for you," I hand her the paper.

"Seriously?" she smiles. "Amy, that's so sweet!"

"Just a small one because I know how cold it is right now and I didn't think you would want to be running around outside all day."

Karma reads the paper aloud. "_You're the Lucy to my Ethel…the Penguin to my Polar Bear…_"

"You can ignore the fact that a polar bear would probably eat the penguin, but," I laugh nervously.

"So this is a clue?"

"Yea, when we reach the place this clue is leading you to; I'll give you the next one."

"When did you have time to do this?" Karma asks, as she steps towards me again.

"I may or may not have woken up at seven am to figure it all out."

"You did all this just for me?"

I just nod my head in response, too afraid to look into her eyes.

"This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," Karma says, hugging me again. She rubs her hand over my back, and it gives me the tingles.

"So do you think you can figure out the first clue?" I say.

Karma takes another look at it. "Okay, penguin to my polar bear…oh, the zoo!"

"I guess I didn't make that one hard enough," I laugh. "So, let's go to the zoo."

Karma grabs my hand and pulls me in close. "Do they really have penguins there?"

"Yea, I think so. It's this way," I point down the path towards the entrance. "Let's go see those penguins," I tell her. I buy us tickets and immediately head for the polar exhibit. Karma nearly shrieks when she sees them.

"They're so cute!" she shouts. "Amy, come here," she grabs my hand and pulls me to the railing. As she watches the little birds waddle around the rocks and dive in and out of the water, I watch her. The smile across her face makes all this work totally worth it. I wish I could be the one to make her smile for the rest of her life. She nudges my arm and points towards a particular penguin. "That one looks like you," she says.

"Hey," I pout, "That's not nice."

"I'm kidding! Well, see now you do look like him, all grumpy."

I pout even harder just to make Karma laugh, and it works. I can't help but smile too.

"Let's take a picture," she takes out her phone and turns around. "Come here," she puts her arm around my waist and pulls me in close. She snaps the photo and looks at the screen. "Perfect."

"Yea," I agree. "We look perfect," I want to add 'together' on the end of that sentence.

After perusing through the rest of the zoo, we make our way to the exit.

"Can I read the next clue now?" Karma asks.

"Sure," I reply, sitting down on a bench.

"_Imagine that time when you sang me this song_," she reads and thinks for a moment while standing in front of me. "Imagine that time….when I sang you a song?"

"Yea, _imagine_ it."

"Imagine…..Oh! Imagine all the people," Karma sings. "It's Strawberry Fields memorial, with the Imagine mosaic! Amy I've so wanted to go there! How did you know?"

"Because you're my best friend," I tell her with a shrug.

"Is it nearby?" Karma asks.

"We can walk there," I say as I stand up. "C'mon, if we walk fast we can get warm," I laugh.

We reach Strawberry Fields and it's already surrounded with people this early in the day. We wait while the others disperse and we get a chance to see the circular mosaic tiles in the ground with "Imagine" written in the middle.

"Wow," she says. "You know, John Lennon was the first songwriter I looked up to. Before I even knew how to sing. I wanted to be able to do write even a tenth as good as he did."

"You are good, Karma," I say. "Every song you write is better than the last."

"Thanks," she says. "You're like my number one fan."

"Does this mean I get backstage passes when you make it big?" I joke.

"Please, you'll get the all-access passes," Karma says, brushing her hand over my arm.

I nearly choke at that response. Did she mean….No, she couldn't possibly. Karma takes a couple pictures of the attraction, and we make way for others to get a closer look.

"Ok, here is the last clue," I hand her the paper.

She smiles and takes it from me, reading it aloud, "_Fall down the rabbit hole with me_. Oh, that's Alice…"

"Yup," I say. "This one might be the trickiest for you to find. I figure I'd let you google this one," I laugh.

Karma immediately takes out her phone and searches "Alice in Wonderland + Central Park". "Oh! The statues?"

I nod in response with a grin. "Damn Google. I knew I didn't make these clues hard enough."

We walk back across the park in search of the bronze Alice in Wonderland statues. I had a feeling Karma would enjoy seeing them.

"I think they're around this bend here," I tell her, and as we turn the corner Karma spots them.

"There they are!" she sees Alice sitting atop a mushroom, surrounded by the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. "So cool, Amy! I've got to take pictures of this."

"So you really liked all this?" I ask.

"Of course!" Karma says, turning around. "This was so much fun, Amy. No one has ever done something like this for me."

"Well…you mean so much to me, Karma. I don't know what I would do without you, so I wanted to do something special for you," I can feel these emotions bubbling to the surface. I'm afraid I might start crying, so if I don't go through with this now I maybe never will. "And well…," I reach into my pocket. "Every scavenger hunt needs the treasure at the end, so…" I hand her a small box.

"What's this?"

"You'll see," I say. My heart is racing inside my chest.

Karma opens the box and pulls out a silver necklace. "Oh wow," she says. She holds the pendant up to her face. It's the white rabbit carrying his timepiece. "Amy, it's beautiful."

"I wanted you to have it so you can remind yourself to keep looking for the rabbit hole, and you'll find wonderland someday."

Karma throws her arms around me and hugs me tight. "I love it," she whispers in my ear. "So much."

"I'm glad," I smile.

"But why did you get me another present? You already gave me one for Christmas."

"Umm, okay," I start pacing nervously. "Karma….let's sit down," I point to the bench. I turn to face her. "Karma…I don't know how to say all this."

"Say what? You're kind of freaking me out here," she says.

"It's nothing bad! Well, I really hope it's not bad…"

"Just tell me," Karma puts her hand over mine. "What's going on?"

"Things have been kind of confusing for me lately….like since Homecoming. But they're starting to not be so confusing anymore. But the thing is…I'm really scared. I'm scared because it's so clear to me now. And I don't want to lose you," I can feel the tears welling up.

"Lose me? Amy, you'll never lose me."

"I don't want to lose you because the thing that I know….is that I'm in love with you," as the words left my mouth, my body completely freezes. I lock eyes with her, waiting for the rejection. Waiting for her to jump off this bench, running as far away from me as she can.

"You're in love with me?"

I can't stand to look her in the eyes any longer. I simply nod with my head facing the ground.

"Amy, look at me."

I can't stop the tears from falling any longer. I shake my head in response and dab at the tears with my sleeve.

"Look at me," Karma grabs my chin and tilts it towards her.

She takes one glance down at my lips and closes the distance between us. It all happens so fast and before I realize what's happening, her lips are touching mine. I moan for a second and feel Karma's hand behind my head, pulling me closer. She deepens the kiss, and it feels even better than the first kiss at Homecoming. I never want it to end. Karma takes my top lip between her own and sucks on it gently. I feel like I'm going to pass out and I need oxygen. We break the kiss and my mouth stays agape.

"I think I'm in love with you too," Karma whispers.

"You….you are?" I can't believe the words I'm hearing.

"I think I knew it that first day. Even if I didn't want to believe it."

"Do you still not want to believe it?" I ask.

Karma shakes her head. "I've thought about kissing you like this every day since. You're not just my best friend anymore. I've realized I want more."

"Really?" I ask.

"I want to do this for real. No more faking," Karma says.

"No more faking," a grin spreads across my face.

"Can I kiss you again for real?" Karma asks, holding onto my wrist.

All I can do is nod as Karma slides across the bench and pulls me by my waist and kisses me like she's wanted to all this time.


End file.
